The JUNO Awards rename award category to Indigenous Music Album of the Year

TORONTO, ON (January 11, 2017)— The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) today announced its JUNO Award categoryAboriginal Album of the Year will be proudly renamed Indigenous Music Album of the Year, in support of acknowledging all First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in Canada.

“The renaming of this award to Indigenous Music Album of the Year aims to honour, respect and acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of Canada and their long standing contributions to the Canadian music industry and their rich history in this country,” said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards and MusiCounts. “At CARAS we always strive to provide equal celebration for all of Canada’s diverse musical specialities.”

“Our committee asked CARAS to consider the change because we felt that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People provided a stronger foundation for our collective movement than what had been established around the term ‘Aboriginal,’” explains Alan Greyeyes, Chair of the JUNO Awards Indigenous Music Album of the Year Music Advisory. “Our music community is made up of artists from many Nations who bring their own languages, perspectives, truths, and styles to the table and I’m glad that CARAS is committed to helping us share these gifts with audiences and media here on Turtle Island and beyond.”

Presented annually at the JUNO Awards, the Indigenous Music Album of the Year sponsored by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network recognizes the music that echoes the Indigenous experience in Canada through words and/or music. The category accepts all traditional Indigenous music including: traditional Aboriginal music: Iroquois, Social Pow Wow Drum (i.e: Sioux, Assiniboine, Cree, Ojibway & Blackfoot, etc.); all Hand Drums (e.g. Inuit, Dene, Cree, Micmac, West Coast, etc.), Inuit Throat Singing; Traditional Flutes; Métis, Cree & Micmac Fiddling. In addition, fusions of all genres of contemporary music that incorporate the above and/or reflect the unique Indigenous experience in Canada, by virtue of words or music.

The Indigenous Music Album of the Year award will be presented at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awardspresented by SOCAN on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

JUNO Week 2017 will be hosted in Ottawa from March 27 through April 2, 2017.

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MUSKRAT is an on-line Indigenous arts, culture magazine that honours the connection between humans and our traditional ecological knowledge by exhibiting original works and critical commentary. MUSKRAT embraces both rural and urban settings and uses media arts, the Internet, and wireless technology to investigate and disseminate traditional knowledges in ways that inspire their reclamation.

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